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Beautiful, transparent, shimmery, "glissy" sound. I never ran it stereo, so I can't speak to that, but I was able to get a clean, clear chorus that didn't seem to affect the lows much. It did not muddy up the sound.
My first choice for bass modulation is a vibrato pedal set for a very low speed (you may need to mod since most vibrato pedals are still to fast for my tastes) and shallow a depth setting. Otherwise a phase shifter using the same settings. A tiny hint of tremolo or delay can also be added to the mix with either vibrato or phase shifting for good results.
Note: For bass I prefer the subtle employment of effects and a light touch on their settings (most times) so the above may not be the type of sound you're looking for. My goal with modulation is to obtain a sense of motion and a little ambiance to the bass sound without it being too obvious.
For phase shifters I actually like two of the least expensive ones out there: the MXR Phase 90 and the tiny Hotone Phaze. I'll often use both at the same time.
I've yet to find my ideal vibrato pedal. Hopefully Josh of Broughton Audio or the guys over at Southampton will eventually create a vibrato with ultra low speeds available on the LFO. Right now I'm using a Behringer UV300 I modded to get the speed far slower than what comes out of the box. Not ideal. But it actually sounds pretty good and it gets me where I want to be better than anything else I've found so far. And for $25 most places it's hard to go too wrong buying one. The BOSS VB-2W is a really nice vibrato pedal if you don't care about super slow speeds.
For tremolo there's only one AFAIC: Catalinbread's Pareidolia Mesmerizer which is basically a recreation of the tremolo found on the old Fender Brownface amps.
For delay I use a Catalinbread Montevillian Echo which is very close to a classic tape echo minus the hiss.
Note: For bass I prefer the subtle employment of effects and a light touch on their settings (most times) so the above may not be the type of sound you're looking for. My goal with modulation is to obtain a sense of motion and a little ambiance to the bass sound without it being too obvious.
For phase shifters I actually like two of the least expensive ones out there: the MXR Phase 90 and the tiny Hotone Phaze. I'll often use both at the same time.
I've yet to find my ideal vibrato pedal. Hopefully Josh of Broughton Audio or the guys over at Southampton will eventually create a vibrato with ultra low speeds available on the LFO. Right now I'm using a Behringer UV300 I modded to get the speed far slower than what comes out of the box. Not ideal. But it actually sounds pretty good and it gets me where I want to be better than anything else I've found so far. And for $25 most places it's hard to go too wrong buying one. The BOSS VB-2W is a really nice vibrato pedal if you don't care about super slow speeds.
For tremolo there's only one AFAIC: Catalinbread's Pareidolia Mesmerizer which is basically a recreation of the tremolo found on the old Fender Brownface amps.
For delay I use a Catalinbread Montevillian Echo which is very close to a classic tape echo minus the hiss.
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For the metal band have you ever considered a flanger? Turn down the feedback/resonance control and you’ve got a kinda pseudo chorus effect. Turn it up and you can get more into flange/phase areas...
I've been using an MXR Analog Chorus on one board and a TC Electronic Corona on another. Both are well suited for Bass. the MXR is much more subtle and the Corona is way more versatile.
I did have an EBS UniChorus but, did found it actually colored my tone in a way I did not like. So, I parted ways with it.
I did have an EBS UniChorus but, did found it actually colored my tone in a way I did not like. So, I parted ways with it.
Just last week I was able to spend a couple of hours at the local shop and side-by-side (x6) the following phase pedals:
Of course, YMMV!
- MXR Phase 90
- TC Electronic Helix
- Boss PH-3
- EarthQuaker Devices The Depths
- EHX Bad Stone
- Behringer VP1
Of course, YMMV!
Hadn't ever really considered that. Never particularly liked flangers, mainly because they make me think that my ears are clogging up from allergies. LOL. That's an interesting approach. May have to look into that further. Thanks for the suggestion!
Hadn't looked into the Boss PH-3. Will research that. Thanks!Just last week I was able to spend a couple of hours at the local shop and side-by-side (x6) the following phase pedals:
I ended up going with the Boss. To me, it sounds the most 'natural' and 'real' and was the most 'present'. I know that those are weird terms but those qualities were the real deciding factor for me. The others didn't sound bad at all, they just seemed, by direct comparison to the Boss, to be lacking those qualities I mentioned. Some had more features/ configuration choices (The Depths) and others had less (MXR) but in the end, it was the PH3 that I just kept going back to.
- MXR Phase 90
- TC Electronic Helix
- Boss PH-3
- EarthQuaker Devices The Depths
- EHX Bad Stone
- Behringer VP1
Of course, YMMV!
I play metal and have a Phaser, Flanger and Delay in my chain
None are an 'always on' choice but man, when you hit them at the right time, they can really open a song (and a pit!) up 
rtav
Millionaire Stuntman, Half-Jackalope
Sounds like we are in similar situations then. Yeah whatever mod pedal(s) I go with will definitely not be "always on" unless I can determine some trick that sounds amazing to convince me otherwise. I expect that the majority of use that these pedals will see will be during arpeggiated sections of the metal band's songs (go to 1:05 for the beginning of the chorus on this song from my band's EP, you can hear my lame approximation of some Steve Harris type stuff) or for really big, clean passages during praise band sessions.I play metal and have a Phaser, Flanger and Delay in my chain
Bassist4Eris
Frat-Pack Sympathizer
I typically use chorus for pretty stuff, and phaser for funky stuff. That's not a hard/fast rule though. In the case of arpeggios in a metal band, I'd be more inclined to use chorus.
I'm not a big fan of the Boss CEB-3. It's a bit subtle in the mix, and if you're mixing in clean signal from the DI, I fear the effect may be lost in the mix. I switched from that one to the MXR Stereo Chorus (running in mono) and haven't looked back, although I'm not saying I think my chorus quest is over, either. I just like the MXR better than the Boss. It's more musical to my ears. It has the low pass filter switch, which isn't the same as having a knob, but I really don't miss the knob to be honest. The switch does the job just fine.
The MXR Phase 90 is a hugely popular phaser, but when I tried it out against the Boss PH-3, I actually went home with the Boss. YMMV.
I recently hoped to kick both the MXR Chorus and the Boss Phaser off the board with a single pedal: The Source Audio Orbital Modulator. This is a digital pedal that does all types of modulation, and gives you two footswitches on which to save presets. I had hoped to find a chorus and a phaser in there, but I couldn't find a decent chorus in it to save my life. The phaser, OTOH, kicked the Boss of my board quite handily. I've programmed the other switch on the Orbital for flanger, an effect I haven't used much of in the past. I did have the MXR Flanger for awhile, but I thought it made my notes kind of mushy.
I'm not a big fan of the Boss CEB-3. It's a bit subtle in the mix, and if you're mixing in clean signal from the DI, I fear the effect may be lost in the mix. I switched from that one to the MXR Stereo Chorus (running in mono) and haven't looked back, although I'm not saying I think my chorus quest is over, either. I just like the MXR better than the Boss. It's more musical to my ears. It has the low pass filter switch, which isn't the same as having a knob, but I really don't miss the knob to be honest. The switch does the job just fine.
The MXR Phase 90 is a hugely popular phaser, but when I tried it out against the Boss PH-3, I actually went home with the Boss. YMMV.
I recently hoped to kick both the MXR Chorus and the Boss Phaser off the board with a single pedal: The Source Audio Orbital Modulator. This is a digital pedal that does all types of modulation, and gives you two footswitches on which to save presets. I had hoped to find a chorus and a phaser in there, but I couldn't find a decent chorus in it to save my life. The phaser, OTOH, kicked the Boss of my board quite handily. I've programmed the other switch on the Orbital for flanger, an effect I haven't used much of in the past. I did have the MXR Flanger for awhile, but I thought it made my notes kind of mushy.
Take a look at Electro-Harmonix Canyon. Has multiple effects that may be useful
TC Helix and MXR bass chorus delux, I think that isn't too much! I have one modu on my whole board other than the limited use effects on a Superego+, the Helix in it's loop makes it sound like bowed bass, some toneprint installed months ago...
I have a TC Chorus/Flanger that I’ve had since the mid 80’s. It’s fantastic.
Ehx Bass Clone is a pretty awesome chorus too. I use it for intros and to thicken up parts of some songs with the band, and it crushes for slower doomy stuff esp when paired with an od.
The one pedal I miss most is an old off-brand chorus I bought decades ago circa 1983. I bought it from The Music Shop, a place that sold a modicum of decent new and used gear, cool 80's clothes (it was the 80's after all), as well as records and tapes. I bought lots of Kaman Performer bass strings there. I can't for the life of me remember the brand of the chorus. It was in a matte black case with lime green neonish writing, had the then-standard chrome foot-button, controls for rate and depth, and a frosted red LED to let you know it was on. You had to take off the foam-rubber clad bottom plate to change the battery. I think I paid all of $30 for it. Damn, I want my Eighties back...
